MidnightRide wrote:
Midnitmike wrote:
The weather cleared the sun came out and the roads dried, so I took it for a test drive. My impression...it's a smooth ride, fairly nimble, decent powertrain and suspension. I damn sure didn't fall in love with it like I did my Roady and I wouldn't trade you two to one...hell three to one if you offered. If you ask me it's a bike that almost serves a purpose but doesn't quite know what it's suppose to be. It's too small to be a decent tourer no matter how big the bags are and it really doesn't have the character to make a decent cruiser. My little 1100 V-Star put a smile on your face every time you rode, it was a lot more fun, louder, quicker and just better at being a cruiser than the Harley. A Road* may not have been designed as a tourer (it's missing a gear afterall) but it's three steps ahead of a Road King in just about every regard. My only gripe is they (Yamaha) didn't do enough to dampen engine vibration so that you could take it to the next level if you so desired.

In short it didn't do anything to change my mind enough to make a better counter-offer. If i could get it for $5,500 I'd think about but at $6,500 I'd be squeezing pennies out of it come springtime not hundred dollar bills. The way I look at it if I don't love the bike how am I going to convince someone else it's just what they need. Let's close this thread and move on to something else...I hear Indians are hot!

If you're prepared to buy it for $5500 then tell the guy that's your buying price and let him decide how badly he wants to see it going away. I doubt he's willing to wait until spring to hope for a better price. If there are several listed right now then tell him that and let him know he has some competition. Tell him you don't really want the bike, you just want to flip it in the spring, and if you can't buy it right then you have no interest.

I personally wouldn't want to tie that much cash up through the winter only to make the profit you expect, but you know what works for you. I could flip that money over ten times before your market even catches up with you in the spring.

Ever watched Pawn Stars? Everyone understands that dealers have to make a profit.

My guess is that he'll go for it. Hold onto your price and let him know you'll be paying cash. Don't give him time to think about it, such as a few days or through the weekend, because all he'll do is use your 'guarantee' against you and offer it to the next guy for a few hundred more after dropping his price drastically.

I've been doing this for decades and you wouldn't believe the prices that you can buy things at if you just educate the seller a bit. I always start with, 'Your bike is certainly worth your asking price, but I'm only buying it to flip it so I can't pay full price.'

People respect that since you're not degrading him or his price, only stating your own position.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't quite sure how to approach this owner, should I tell him I'm only interested in flipping the bike or keep my mouth shut and wait to see how anxious he is to sell. If I'm reading him right he's selling the bike to cover the repair bill on his Spyder that's in the shop this week. He's looking at a $2000 bill to put that thing back on the road and the Harley has been sitting there gathering dust for the last year or two so why not turn it into cash. He's killing two birds at the same time, clearing out space in his garage and paying for that POS Spyder without wiping out his bank account.

Nope, never seen an episode of Pawn Stars. Wheeler Dealers is more up my alley because I like the idea of buying a machine, finding a niche for it and moving it in that direction to make it more saleable. I see two markets here locally the first is an around town blaster, makem loud and proud for the short haul. The second is for the more serious rider to head up the road and lay down some miles so fairing and bags is the way to go there. I guess that's why the quandary over this particular machine, I'm not sure what the hell to do with it for the reasons I stated in my previous post.

I think I'll take your advice and let the seller know I'm looking at as a flip and stay with my original offer of $5,500. If he needs to turn it into cash to retrieve his Spyder he might wince in pain, but he'll do the deal and move on. If not I haven't lost anything and I'll just keep looking for another deal.

In Milwaukee-Madison WI that's about a $6000 to $8000 bike depending how well it presents in person.
I can find a bunch listed for $12k but most of those have been for sale for quite a while.

Deals are out there. I think for $5,500 you couldn’t go wrong. Like others say at $6,500 you would be fighting to make a big enough profit to justify the investment, storage, title transfer fees, etc.

I bought a 2003 100th anniversary Electra Glide for $4,000 a few months ago. Guy bought it as his first bike and was scared of it and wanted out. If your patient deals do come around. But since you mentioned you have flipped bikes in the past you know this all too well.

I would personally stick to flipping metric bikes. A few months ago I purchased a 2001 Roadstar for $1,100. Sold the accessories off of it for around $700 in total. And just sold the bike for $1600. Not a huge profit but a quick one. Problem with buying Harleys is production. There might be 15 Roadstars for sale but at the same time there are 50 Road kings for sale. And all of them are low miles because nobody actually rides their Harley haha So buyers have more to choose from. JMHO

Go on eBay sometime at look at the mileage of the Road Stars on their. You'll see that most of them aren't ridden either

07 and later has 6 spd right, but it's a twin cam ,has that been upgraded yet ?